There's nothing like a waterfall
to capture people's attention, stir the emotions, and, for some, fuel
ambitions. St. Anthony Falls--the greatest cascade on the Mississippi
River--has seen a lot of human interst and activity ever since it was
named after St. Anthony of Padua by the French Franciscian explorer Father
Louis Hennepin in 1680. Energy generated by the falls powered the industries
that gave Minneapolis its start--nearly 100 waterwheels were once turned
by St. Anthony Falls' rushing waters.

The area surrounding the falls has been the site of the first bridge ever
to cross the Mississippi, the first hydroelectric plant in the western
hemisphere, & what was at one time the largest flour mill in the world.

Today, as you can see in this
picture, the cascade pours over a wall of concrete where waters once tumbled
over rough bedock.

TAKING A CLOSER LOOK

What can we learn about how
we relate to the river now and in the past from this modern-day photo
of the falls? Here are some activies that will help you think things through:

1.Identify one river
use or type of human activity for each labeled area of the photo.
2. Which of these activities and river uses do you think harm the river
and its native creatures? How? Which are harmless?
3. Harrison Salisbury, a famous Minneapolis-born journalist and author,
once wrote, "The mills stood at St. Anthony Falls in their corona
of flour dust like block houses guarding the rapids of the river. The
grain poured in from Montana, the Dakotas, the Red River valley. It poured
into the Minneapolis mills, and the flour in its cotton sacks and its
great jute cloaks filled coutless red feight cars and poured out over
the country and over the world." Does the fact that energy generated
by the falls has provided food for many, many people justify any negative
impacts of human activities?

Information on this
page is from The Mississippi River: Nature, Culture and Travel Sites
along the "Mighty Missippi" by Tom Weil